I told you there'd be more pictures of the tank! I picked it up today from the painter and it looks awesome. The picture doesn't really do it justice but you get the idea. The tank protectors were also lacquered with a satin finish.

It's been a little while but at last the end is in sight! The tank is now on with the new fuel cap and the tank protectors stuck on. The clutch cover that was re-sprayed is now on too. She's also been treated to a service and the starter motor has been rebuilt due to it making a nasty, angry screeching noise! She also flew through the MOT so she'll be ready to go once the last couple of bits of trim are put back in place and she's had a wash.

I'm now the organiser of my local Ducati Owners Club GB branch and our first meet is this Wednesday so the timing is perfect. Apart from a few more carbon pieces, all that I really want to get for her are an exhaust / filter combo and some rearsets (Spoiler: I may have some on the way!).

Total for the day was a reasonable 125 miles, albeit solo (aka billy no mates). It was going well until I got home and was greeted by a rather sorry looking tail tidy:20180507_131205 by Matt Bly, on Flickr

I had noticed it drooping after my last ride and hoped it was just my imagination - it wasn't! It was bending exactly where it was identified earlier in another forum and I had hoped that it wouldn't be the case. Unfortunately, it clearly wasn't up to the job so a rethink is required.

Anyway, on to better things and yesterday saw me take a trip to TTS Performance in Silverstone to get a baseline dyno run in before the full system was fitted. It was then on to Baines Racing a mile down the road to get the work done. I was allowed to hang around and film the job. I also picked up a spanned and got involved where I could.

You wouldn't believe how much these go for nowadays!:IMG_4647 by Matt Bly, on Flickr

Now the plan was to go back to TTS the same day for an 'after' run but we ran out of time and I took the bike home. I was also in a rush to get back out on it and go to the local DOCGB local branch meeting. I was also looking forward to getting a ride in to see how the exhaust had changed things.

As well as the exhaust, I had a Sprint air filter fitted and uploaded the upmap which is essentially a remap suited to the full system. I managed to get out the door at about 1930hrs and the bike was nothing short of transformed! The stuttering at low speed and the unpredictable throttle were gone and it was smooth all the way. It also felt much more tractable at 'normal' revs which is where you are when riding on the road. Within the first 500m I could tell I had done the right thing!

I believe this is a round case bevel = eye wateringly exclusive and valuable:20180509_205308 by Matt Bly, on Flickr

Anyway, back to business. Today, I went back to TTS for the 'after' run. I'll move on to that later but not before more bad news - the tail tidy is no more! It finally cracked along the weak point and when I got to TTS it was in a sorry state. I managed to nurse it to Baines who kindly lent me some tools to remove the whole assembly. I cable tied the number plate to my camera bag on my back and hoped for a lack of rozzers on the way home! Here's the state of it now: